Trip To Asia

We like Asian food. And by we, I don't usually mean David. If we go to Panda Express, we drive through the burger joint next door for him. He will eat some orange chicken if we make him.

But eating out is expensive. Especially at Panda Express or other Chinese take out. And since we are trying to stay on budget and still eat fun stuff, we decided to try and make some Chinese take out at home.

I found this recipe on Pintrest and it led me to this blog and this recipe for Cashew Chicken.

Cashew Chicken (with a kick)
2 chicken breasts cubed
1 tbsp cooking sherry
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
¼ cup oil
1/2-1 tsp red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you want it, a little goes a long way)
3 green onions, sliced diagonally
2 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tsp of jarred minced garlic)
1/2 cup cashews, unsalted
toasted sesame seeds
lightly or unsalted cashews.

Sauce:
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp white vinegar

Combine 1 tablespoon soy sauce with the cooking sherry in medium sized bowl. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, put chicken pieces in soy/sherry mixture. Let sit while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a small bowl, whisk 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 1/2 tbsp corn starch, 4 tsp sugar, and 2 tsp vinegar. Set aside. Slice the green onions, and measure out the red pepper flakes and minced garlic.

Drain chicken in strainer to get the marinade off as much a possible. Heat oil in a wok over high heat. Add red pepper flakes to oil,stir a couple times. Add chicken all at once, let sit for a minute or two till golden,then turn chicken. Add garlic to chicken. Cook chicken till golden on all sides and cooked through. drain oil if there is still an excessive amount. Add cashews. Move wok off hot stove and immediately pour in sauce while constantly turning chicken over to cover everything in sauce. Sauce should thicken quite a bit, if you want it thicker put it back on medium heat for about 5-10 seconds, and stir, stir, stir. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds and add sliced green onions. Serve over Rice. ENJOY!

I didn't use a wok. I just used a big non-stick skillet. I didn't use low sodium soy sauce. I didn't slice my onions diagonally. And my cashews were lightly salted. I only used a 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. It had a little kick to it.

David said it was edible. Carolynn and I liked it, but we both felt that there were too many cashews. Catherine said it was too spicy. Also, it didn't make a whole lot. But enough for 1 serving each. We might try this one again. We ate it with white rice. But I think fried rice would have been good too.